Ross Sea Environment and Ecosystem Voyage 2019

From 8 Jan - 17 Feb 2019 RV Tangaroa undertook a six-week research voyage to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

Onboard 21 scientists, supported by 19 crew members, studied the ocean, atmosphere and ecosystem processes with the focus on establishing monitoring programmes for the newly created Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area (MPA). 

At over 1.55 million km² in size, the MPA is the world’s largest. It comprises a range of zones from fully protected to special research zones, as well as areas left open to fishing. 

Peter Marriott/NIWA

Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Work

There are eight separate research objectives to better understand the processes governing the region and the role of the Marine Protected Area (established in December 2017) in protecting this environment. These include surveys of fish species and seabed habitats, ecosystem studies of plankton, oceanographic and atmospheric measurements to improve understanding of climate-related processes, and making observations of whales. All of this research will provide baseline information about the MPA so scientists can start to evaluate its effectiveness.

There are international collaborations with American, Australian, and Korean research colleagues as well as the work of the onboard voyage participants from Italy, China, and France. The voyage is jointly funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment through the Ross-RAMP programme, NIWA, and the University of Auckland. 

This is the second of two linked NIWA voyages to this region, with the previous voyage in Feb-Mar 2018. Another of the key science objectives of the upcoming voyage is to recover and re-deploy seven long-term moorings which monitor ocean currents, krill, and whale calls.

During the voyage to the coldest continent on Earth, we'll keep you up to date with photos, a voyage map with way points of interest and regular blog updates from Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll about their findings and life onboard the RV Tangaroa.

Antarctic Voyage 2019 map

The course of RV Tangaroa taken during the voyage. Dates and times detailed are UTC, 13 hours behind NZ daylight time.